Disk carrying device and optical disk recording/reproducing device

Abstract

In a disk carrying device including a first idle gear rotatably supported by a lower chassis and a second idle gear for contacting and separating from the first idle gear to perform a rotation operation, the second idle gear and a roller gear meshing therewith are rotatably supported by a feed plate to cause the second idle gear to contact and separate, from below, from the first idle gear rotatably supported by the lower chassis. Because of this configuration, in disk insertion, a downward force F1 acts on the second idle gear and a pushing pressure of the feed roller to a disk D decreases. In disk ejection, an upward force F2 acts on the second idle gear and the pushing pressure of the feed roller to the disk D increases.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Technical Field of the InventionThe present invention relates to a disk carrying device for carrying a disk by a rotatable feed roller and to an optical disk recording / reproducing device having the disk carrying device.2. Description of the Related ArtIn the field of optical disk recording / reproducing device, particularly optical disk recording / reproducing device for automobile use, there has been a strong demand from the market for the size and thickness reduction, and technology for realizing this is being actively developed. In order to achieve the size and thickness reduction of the optical recording / reproducing device, there is adopted a method of carrying an optical disk directly held by a feed roller and a disk guide therebetween when the optical disk is inserted into and ejected from a device, rather than a method of placing the optical disk on a tray (see, for example, Patent Document 1).FIG. 1A is a schematic top view of a lower chassis in an ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is to solve the conventional problem as described above and its object is to provide a disk carrying device capable of reducing the load on a motor to smoothly carry a disk, and to provide an optical disk recording / reproducing device having the same.

Because of this configuration, the second idle gear, which is supported together with the roller gear by the feed plate, contacts and separates from the first idle gear along with the swinging of the feed plate. Thus, in the disk insertion, when the drive force from the disk carrying motor is transmitted from the worm gear to the first idle gear and is transmitted from the first idle gear to the second idle gear, the downward force is applied to the second idle gear by the first idle gear and the downward force acts on the feed roller via the roller gear. When the disk has been completely carried to the depth side of the device and when the feed roller slips, the pushing pressure of the feed roller to the disk decreases and the load on the disk carrying motor is reduced. Thus a low output motor can be adopted. In this way, the power consumption decreases and the heat from the motor is suppressed, so that the gears can be made of a relatively soft resin material as the temperature-resistance characteristic is improved and the forces on the gears decrease. Consequently it is possible to reduce gear noise from gear meshing sound. Further, in the disk ejection, the upward force is applied to the second idle gear from the first idle gear and the upward force acts on the feed roller via the roller gear, so that the pushing pressure of the feed roller to the disk increases. Thus the disk ejecting force can be increased. In this way, it is possible to smoothly carry the disk, regardless of the warping of the disk and the friction coefficient of the disk surface.

The present invention is to provide a disk carrying device where a gear array for transmitting a drive force of a disk carrying motor to a feed roller, includes: a worm gear for transmitting a torque of the disk carrying motor; a first idle gear rotatably supported by a lower chassis to transmit the torque from the worm gear; a second idle gear rotatably supported by a feed plate and being detachably engaged with the first idle gear; and a roller gear fixed to a roller shaft of the feed roller to mesh with the second idle gear. Because of this configuration, in the disk insertion, a downward force from the first idle gear is applied to the second idle gear and the downward force acts on the feed roller via the roller gear, so that a pushing pressure of the feed roller to the disk decreases and a load on the disk carrying motor is reduced. Thus a low output motor can be adopted. In addition, there is an advantage that in the disk ejection, an upward force from the first idle gear is applied to the second idle gear and the upward force acts on the feed roller via the roller gear, so that the pushing pressure of the feed roller to the disk increases, and thus the disk ejecting force can be increased.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the above described conventional disk carrying device, there has been a problem that the motor load relatively increases as a disk carrying force by the feed roller 14 is strong in insertion, and that the disk is not smoothly carried as the disk carrying force is weak in ejection.

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